Workers approach the only entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in November 2007.

The Svalbard archipelago is about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the North Pole—the islands' airport is the northernmost in the world to handle regularly scheduled flights, according to the Global Crop Diversity Trust. (See a map of the region.)

For four months out of the year the Arctic islands are engulfed in total darkness, and outside temperatures in winter average 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 degrees Celsius).

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